Bouquets to Art Exhibit at the DeYoung Featuring Los Altos Floral Artist

The 40 th annual floral exhibition, Bouquets to Arts, opened at the Fine Art Museums of San Francisco on June 4. Leading floral designers from all over the bay area descended to the de Young to interpret fine arts with their innovative floral arrangements, showcasing spirits of the museum’s permanent art masterpieces. Nyna Dolby, a distinguished floral designers based in Los Altos, sits on the Fine Art Museums’ flower committee. It is her team’s year to enter an arrangement for Bouquets to Art and they chose to do the “Vapor lock”, the space by the front entry doors of the de Young Museum where they have already been arranging floral displays weekly throughout the year. Nyna’s team was inspired by Martin Johnson Heade’s painting of Orchid and Hummingbird (ca 1885 oil on canvas) in the Brazilian rain forest and created a series of botanical arrangement to display their talent.

Nyna and her fellow designers Caril Selig, from Mil Valley, and Eva Monroe, from Watsonville, decided to go theatrical during their brainstorm process, despite the limitation of a three hundred dollars budget for the floral material. Instead of one piece of arrangement which the other floral designers do, they created a series of pieces to demonstrate a rainforest. They utilized all-natural material for the creation, found the preserved moss for the color of the pairing of hummingbirds, and located the right kind of orchid from the City College of San Francisco after the big fire in Hawaii destroyed their usual sources of yellow oncidium. The result is a remarkable transformation of a vibrant rainforest full of colors, species, and lively creatures into a stunning assortment of ten pieces of flower arrangements. Come visit and see if you can find the lovely hummingbirds in the rainforest!

Flower arrangements at the flower mart, lectures by leading designers and trunk shows by jewelry designers are in place throughout the week from June 4 to June 9.

Caril Selig, Eva Monroe and Nyna Dolby with their Bouquets to Art design display at the entrance of DeYoung

Photo 3:

Nyna and Bill Dolby at the Bouquets to Art opening gala